How much flow? (gph)

[juke]

Well, I have a 26gal tank with 10lbs of base rock, 15# of live rock, mainly coral branch, and 20# of sand with about 20gals of water and a heater. I am in the process of buying a turbo skimmer and plan to build a sump (15gal) and over flow. My question is how much water flow would be good for a tank this size? How do I determine the water flow?

I realize that pumps are rated for certain gph and overflows can also be rated as such. I want to ensure a healthy water flow and avoid any problems that can occur with improper water flow. Obviously this will determine what I buy/build so any advice is greatly appreciated

thanks in advance,
Juke

 

[mojoreef]

hiya Juke for return water from you sump you should have it lined up with the size of the drain in your overflow box. If the drain is a 1 inch it will drain out around 1000gph, 3/4 inch is around 700.
The concept of flow in the tank has a few things involved beyond just the ammount. You are looking to make sure you dont have any dead spots, you also want to make sure that the surface of the water is not still, get a little ripple in it. usually by the time you take care of those two factors in a tank of that size you should be good. So it would be a return pump sized to match your drain, as one source and then possible a couple of Powerheads to take care of dead spots and surface ripple.

But of coarse you can always get trickier if you wish, but the above would be the standard way most folks with tanks of that size go with.

Mike

 

[juke]

Great info, thanks! If I went with the 3/4" drain flow would a Mag drive pump with 700-800gph flow be a good return pump?

 

[Montanarocknreefer]

juke I would say your good to go!

 

[ponyguy]

I would never run anything less than 1" for a drain..If you do you're asking for problems in the future...

 

[mojoreef]

Juke yes a mag of that size would be fine. But as Ponyboy mentioned it might be a better idea to go to a one inch so you dont have to worry about it donw the road.

MIke